IRL: Kansas: Firestone preview

Firehawk Race Tires Supplied: Firestone delivered 828 Firehawk racing
radials for use at Kansas Speedway. All were produced at the Firestone
Technical Center in Akron, Ohio. At the direction of Indy Racing League
officials, each entered car...

Firehawk Race Tires Supplied: Firestone delivered 828 Firehawk racing
radials for use at Kansas Speedway. All were produced at the Firestone
Technical Center in Akron, Ohio. At the direction of Indy Racing League
officials, each entered car receives eight sets of tires (28 total) this
weekend, to be used at the team's discretion throughout the
practice, qualifying and race sessions. The tire specification in use is
making its second appearance in the past three IndyCar Series races. The
same specification ran quite successfully three weekends ago at Texas
Motor Speedway, and comes from the renowned line of Firestone
superspeedway tires.

Stagger defined: Firestone purposely molds its right-rear Firehawk oval
tires with a slightly greater diameter than the left-rear tires, which
allows the Indy cars to turn left more smoothly. The effect is known as
"stagger." The diameter difference is tiny --about 0.45
of an inch this weekend -- yet the effect is dramatic in making the
cars turn more naturally, which decreases the stresses placed on both
driver and equipment.

Quote from Al Speyer, Executive Director, Firestone Racing:
"Whenever the Indy cars compete on these mile-and-a-half ovals,
there always seems to be nail-biting, tire-to-tire racing on each and
every lap. It's definitely part of the IndyCar Series'
allure. To have the bravado to battle and dice like that for 200 laps,
the drivers must have the ultimate confidence in their race tires to let
them do so. We take pride in knowing that the Firestone tires are trusted
so highly in these incredibly demanding conditions, and we expect the
Firehawks in use this weekend to go a long way in helping the IRL put on
another exciting show."

Firestone Performance Award: During pre-race festivities Sunday,
Firestone Racing will present a $10,000 check to Dario Franchitti of
Andretti Green Racing for winning the Firestone Performance Award by
leading lap 110 last week at Richmond International Raceway. The award
commemorates Firestone's status as the only tire manufacturer to
have participated in every IRL event and is given to the driver who, in
each IndyCar Series race, leads the lap number corresponding to the total
number of races run to that point in series history. This weekend at
Kansas, the leader of lap 111 will earn the $10,000 Firestone Performance
Award.